Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Petuniaxc3x97hybrida cultivar Wespeneo.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant, botanically known as Petuniaxc3x97hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Wespeneoxe2x80x99.
The new Petunia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Sudlohn-Oeding, Germany. The new Petunia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor of a proprietary Petunia selection identified as 98 P 79, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Petunia selection identified as 99 P 19, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Petunia was selected by the Inventor in 1999 in a controlled environment in Sudlohn-Oeding, Germany.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Sudlohn-Oeding, Germany since 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Wespeneo have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Wespeneoxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Wespeneoxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Petunia cultivar:
1. Cascading plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Dense and bushy growth habit.
4. Single salverform red purple-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Petunia have larger and more intense red purple-colored flowers than plants of the female parent, the selection 98 P 79. Plants of the new Petunia have larger leaves and larger flowers than plants of the male parent, the selection 98 P 19.
Plants of the cultivar Wespeneo can be compared to plants of the Petunia cultivar Wespur, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,573. However in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Sudlohn-Oeding, Germany, plants of the new Petunia and the cultivar Wespur differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia had lighter green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Wespur.
2. Plants of the new Petunia had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Wespur.
3. Plants of the new Petunia had larger sepals than plants of the cultivar Wespur.
4. Flower color of plants of the new Petunia was more red purple than flower color of plants of the cultivar Wespur.